Metal Gear Solid V: Chronicles of Outer Heaven (MGS/Valkyria Chronicles)

Another Omake


Word Count: 1604

"Stalking Tiger, please report to Research and Development. Your presence is requested."

Tiger raised an eyebrow as he picked up his iDroid. "You guys want to come along? It could be important."

Panther, Puma and Cougar exchanged glances before Panther shrugged and got to his feet.

"Sure, not like we're doing anything else while on standby."

Tiger nodded before keying his iDroid, "Tiger copies, moving now." He held the door open as the rest of the squad filed out of the barracks and into the sunlight outside.

Panther waved down a HMMWV, "Hey! Can we get a lift over to R&D?"

The driver leaned over to pop open the passenger seat door, "Sure, hop in!"

Panther grinned as he, Puma and Cougar piled into the rear seat, Panther took the opportunity to pop the turret hatch and sit on the gunner's sling seat. Tiger nodded his thanks as he sat down and shut the door next to him.

"So, what's the rush, guys? I didn't hear anything about the eggheads doing anything too odd lately."

Tiger leaned back as he secured his seat belt, "No idea, just got the call, didn't seem too urgent. But orders are orders."

The driver shrugged as the HMMWV eased its way out of the Supply Strut and onto the connecting bridge.

"Hey, I heard you FOX guys are on some kind of special mission this month?"

Tiger looked over at the man, "Yes, can't say more than that, you know the deal. OPSEC."

"Yeah, yeah. If I need to know, I'd know already."

The rest of the drive passed uneventfully as Tiger took the moment to enjoy the ocean breeze and the light chatter of the three behind him.

The vehicle pulled up to a halt in front of the main entrance to the Research and Development strut. "Alright, ride's over. You guys stay safe ya' hear?"

Panther thumped the roof as he dismounted, "Thanks man, you saved us a hell of a walk!"

The driver waved as he pulled back onto the bridge and sped off.

"Well now, time to see what the eggheads want with Tiger. After you boss."

The group stepped out of the hot and humid atmosphere outside and into the air conditioned environment within the Research and Development wing.

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"Ah! Tiger, you're early, perfect!"

Analytic Cormorant cheerfully clapped his hands together and gestured the group closer. For a moment Tiger got the impression of a grandfather about to hand out surprise gifts.

"I have a demonstration of a prototype for the command staff a little later and I need you to help with the presentation. It will be quite easy, I assure you, just a short obstacle course and a show of durability. You will be perfectly safe. I'll even let your squad have the first run if the Boss approves it!"

Tiger nodded along before pausing. What did he mean by 'perfectly safe'?

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Big Boss stood between Ocelot and Miller as Cormorant greeted them, "Thank you for coming to my demonstration. I hope that it will be suitably impressive for you to consider give it additional resources this quarter. As you well know, the ability to protect infantry against harm in the modern day has been lagging behind the sheer firepower any actor is able to leverage against them given enough time and money."

He walked over to a pair of mannequins, "Here we have two sets that you should be familiar with, the Sneaking Suit and the Battle Dress. The problems inherent in either should be quite obvious. While the Sneaking Suit is quite effective at concealing the user's position and offers moderate protection against shrapnel and light small arms fire, it is also an incredibly expensive and complex piece of equipment to manufacture and repair should it suffer too much damage."

"On the other hand the Battle Dress allows the user to weather heavy assaults. The additional armor plating and impact resistant padding allow the wearer greatly increased survivability in a fight. The problem is that the suit itself is something in the region of 34 kilograms, on top of being incredibly bulky and somewhat awkward to move around in. Which will do you no favors when trying to move without being seen or heard. Not to mention, it is an armorer's nightmare to repair after it's been sufficiently damaged. Fine for Third Company, I guess, less so for everyone else."

Cormorant moved over to the large window looking into a darkened room, "So, the R&D team has attempted to create a light armor that offered the protection of the Battle Suit, while not hampering a soldier's mobility too much. We decided to use a Kevlar weave, as it is a light, strong and flexible fiber. Woven together it's able to resist penetration from pistol-caliber small arms fire and absorb most forms of shrapnel."

A light snapped on in the demonstration room, illuminating a dummy made out of some kind of gelatin with a rib cage inside it. Fit snugly around the faux torso was a padded white vest. Cormorant keyed the microphone, "Panther, one shot, center mass, please."

There was a muzzle flash from a shadowed section of the room and the muffled report of the gunshot. The dummy recoiled as the round struck and fell off the stand.

"Ah... Panther, please recover the test subject, and remove the armor when you do."

They watched as the man picked up the fallen target and slid the Kevlar vest off.

"As you can see, the target suffered no penetration from the round, however it is suffering from a cracked sternum. While the round did not penetrate, it was still able to deliver all of its kinetic energy into a surface area the size of a ping pong ball. This caused the armor to deform around the impact. While you wouldn't have any external bleeding, I can guarantee that you will have internal injuries. Not to mention...Panther, reset the target and run part two."

There was a second, sharper gunshot. The target twitched and swayed on the stand, but remained upright. More telling was the spray of liquefied gelatin and splintered bone that emerged from the back.

"...it does not protect you against rifle-caliber ammunition. All in all, not useful for the boys and girls in First and Second Companies, but it does offer cheap protection for our civilian contractors and other non-combat centric roles"

Cormorant stopped to puff lightly on his pipe before continuing.

"We addressed the issue with the next iteration. Dr. Emmerich suggested that we use something similar to the laminated armor the British are testing on their new Main Battle Tank. The team took a sheet of rolled homogeneous steel and sandwiched it in between two thinner sheets of of hardened steel. They then cut out a plate roughly the size of your rib cage and contoured it slightly to fit better. We then inserted it into another Kevlar vest.

We call it the 'Prototype Rigid Armor Plate Carrier'."

"There is a greater weight penalty when compared with the basic Kevlar vest, however our tester has noted that the increased rigidity also allows it to support more of the weight along his body instead of it resting solely on his shoulders."

More lights in the demonstration room snapped on, revealing a small obstacle course laid out, "Alright, Tiger, give us a short run through the course. You are of course being timed. Your naked time was thirty five seconds. On the buzzer."

The group watched as the man ran, crawled, jumped and scaled the course. The timer ticked over to 1:23 when Tiger reached the finish, slightly flushed with a bit of a sweat, but otherwise fine.

"As you can see, while the additional weight does offer some impediment, it isn't significant."

"Now, a more practical demonstration of the armor inserts."

Miller started, "Wait...you don't mean t-"

Panther fired his sidearm into Tiger's chest. The round impacted with an audible *thump*, the man didn't react beyond trying to blink away the muzzle flash.

"As you can see, the plate stopped the round cold. The energy from the impact is dispersed over the entire surface area of the plate, greatly reducing the felt impact and potential bleed through damage. The Kevlar also absorbs the 'splash' of lead and copper so that the wearer shouldn't suffer secondary wounds under the armpits or near the neck."

"More importantly, the plate can stop rifle-caliber ammunition. Panther, phase two please."

"You sure about this, Doc?"

"Yes, we've run multiple tests on various dummies and animals, he won't suffer any lasting damage."

Tiger spoke up, "Wait, what was that about las-"

The sharp report of a rifle cut him off as he dropped like a rock.

Everyone watched as Panther sprinted over to Tiger, his hands rapidly checking his squad leader for any signs of an entry wound.

Tiger gasped and wheezed as he weakly fended off his squad mate, "M-m*cough*-mother-*cough*-fucker! Get the fuck off me, it c-*cough*-ught the plate!"

"As you can see, though an undoubtedly painful experience, the armor will provide limited protection to rifle-caliber fire. The plate can also be easily replaced by the wearer in the field. Open the compartment via the zipper, remove the damaged or deformed plate and insert a fresh one. It should save the unit armorers quite a bit of time."

"Not to mention, it can be worn over existing uniforms such as the Sneaking Suit or the Battle Dress. It could also provide additional utility. By sewing additional pockets into the Kevlar, a soldier can carry additional munitions or other items into combat, where it would be within easy reach right in front of him."

Analytic Cormorant cheerfully puffed on his pipe as he shut down the lights to the demonstration room, "Any questions?"

Huey whistled a bit as he kept working. Things were progressing well and if it worked out, Diamond Dogs would make History. Real History, like the Wright brothers and Alexander Graham Bell! It would be that big a step for humanity!

Wormholes? Who ever imagined mankind to tap into dimensions? And if they gained the ability to warp things back to mother base, what about sending things and people out after? Heck, he could see Big Boss with such. Warp in, do his job, warp out. And with the only ones with that kind of technology, no one would be able to stop him! It was going to change everything! And beyond that, one could only imagine the civilian uses for such a technology!

Still, it was getting rather busy now. He had taken a break from that work to work on school lessons, but how on Earth could he have said no? An education program for not only the refugees, but the soldiers that wanted to know more? Snake was amazing! Then again, he always was. And maybe some of them would be his future coworkers in due time. They could make new things to help out Diamond Dogs before giving them a civilian application, making the world a better place. That was how progress happened in history after all. One look at his legs was all the proof he needed! If he patented this and sold it, how many would be so glad to finally be able to walk? In fact, maybe he should talk to Snake about it. Even if that idea wasn't for money, it couldn't hurt to have more of it.

But back to his point. He would cherish the day he would have many coworkers around, all together in making the world a better place. Oh certainly, he appreciated his lab and generally free range to work on things, but it could be a bit lonely at times. But he was sure things would get better. He understood why it was like that after all.

Miller was still angry, sure. Honestly, Huey could understand. The top of your life gone and spending so long trying to rebuild, things only working out when Snake came back? Of course anger like that doesn't vanish overnight! It kinda did hurt a bit that he was still suspected, but he was sure it would resolve itself with time. It wasn't like he was the one that bombed MSF.

And well, a tiny, tiny part of himself could admit that things would be so different if he wasn't tricked so easily. How could he not have seen that coming? Then again, the intel team of MSF missed it as well, so it wasn't like the blame was only on him. If Skull Face could fool them, what chance did he have? Honestly, that inspection had been needed! If anyone started fearing them instead of approving of them, something even worse could have happened, he was sure.

Still, tricking was always annoying… Huey liked to trust people! He had no head for intrigue like Ocelot and he should be more cautious, but what were you supposed to do if you started to doubt everyone?

A scream, contained from within a metal shell. Which would turn into a grave soon.

Ouch. His head hurt a bit all of a sudden. Anyway... Yes, Huey could say he disliked being tricked or used.

At any rate, things would surely look up now! Skull Face was dead! Dead, by his own hand!

Now, to be fair, he probably should have been a bit less overjoyed about it. Miller and Snake did it enough to be respectful about killing others. He blamed it on the adrenaline rush himself. It wasn't like he could really kill people, even if he could walk now.

A plea for mercy, echoed by more banging filled the laboratory with noise.

Maybe he was starting to work too hard? His head hurt again… But still, that had been a bit sloopy of the two of them to leave him like that. Did they not learn from themselves after all? Maybe someone could have been hiding to rescue Skull Face. And that would have been bad. Even if they couldn't see it, he did them a favor by not giving that monster any chance at all to survive.

And with that, it was just a matter of time until Miller would start being his old self. He was sure of it! And they would become even bigger than MSF was! As if he was agreeing with that belief, Snake even went and ordered that nuke dismantled.

As much as he believed in deterrence, as much as it made them vulnerable, he was proud of Snake. Nobody on base would enjoy launching a retaliation nuke. Nobody. So if no one really wanted to do it, then dismantling it was the solution, right? Show the world what they should all be doing!

And words he heard for outside told of an assault on the black market on nukes… That was going to be bloody, but Huey was impressed! Maybe he should do more work on the D-Walker on the side? Big Boss was the best at what he did, but a mobile armor was going to help a lot, surely. They couldn't really afford to go nuts with explosives but maybe if he made them accurate enough...

Well, he would see to it later. But back to his previous point… Yes, Miller would surely get better with time. And he would be there whenever needed until he calmed down. It could be hard at times yes, but he knew something of patience. He could understand how rage could make a person do something, only to regret it after.

The screaming, so loud before, grew softer before stopping, as well as the banging. Silence returned to the lab, up until a final 'thud' came from inside the Mammal Pod.

He really should take a pill. He really probably was overworking himself if he had such pain spikes in his head. That was probably not much, but better stay healthy.

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Word count: 1024

Wanted to do a piece on the mind of Huey, on how he justify his current 10/10 on Miller and Snake. For all we know, it's hard to tell whatever happened with him, apart from the death of Strangelove. And even then, Strangelove was hardly blameless in that mess either, given she just used Huey. The truth was forever lost in canon. But in this story, what shall be the truth?